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ISSUES FOUND IN THIS TEXT

14
PLAGIARISM

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Contextual Spelling No errors

Grammar 1
Determiner Use (a/an/the/this, etc.) 1

Punctuation 5
Comma Misuse within Clauses 2
Punctuation in Compound/Complex Sentences 2
Misuse of Semicolons, Quotation Marks, etc. 1

Sentence Structure 1
Incomplete Sentences 1

Style 7
Inappropriate Colloquialisms 3
Unclear Reference 2
Passive Voice Misuse 1
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Caleb Kiselica
Mr. Bradley
Honors English 10
1
20th September, 1 2017 [September, ]
Maus And Its Stereotypes
How and why is a social group represented in a particular
way?
Maus is a graphic novel written by Art Spiegelman. It is
about Art’s father, Vladek, and his experiences with the
Holocaust. It is also about Art and Vladek and their
relationship, which is not as good as it should be. The book
switches between Vladek’s memories of Auschwitz and
Vladek and Artie’s conversations. This book is unique in
many ways. It is unique because it switches perspective, it
is a graphic novel, and, while Art can draw people well, he
decided to take a different approach with this book. Art
uses animals such as pigs (Poles), mice (Jews), and cats
(Nazis) to depict the stereotypes of the different people in
this book.
In the book, we see that many people act the way you
would expect them to. Sometimes though, they act opposite
of their stereotypes. Usually, the Polish (Pigs) are greedy
and will turn in any Jew they see, but throughout the book
we see examples of them being slightly nicer 2. In Maus II,
a Polish woman named Motonowa lets Vladek and his
wife, Anja, stay at her house. They had been staying in a
barn previously, and Vladek had been getting food from
2
Motonowa. One day she tells Vladek “I've been thinking Overused word: nicer
about it...why don’t you move in with my son and me?”(
Spiegelman 141). This person was nice this time, but then
she kicked them out for a while because she claimed that
she thought there was going to be a search of her house.
Later she invited them back because she felt bad 3 for
kicking them out.
While there are a few examples of Poles being nice 4 to
Jews, there are more examples of the Poles being true to
their stereotypes all throughout the book. One such
example is in the first book when Vladek and Anja are
3
looking for a place to stay. They are walking through a Overused word: bad
courtyard when an old, Polish lady sees them and starts
4
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yelling “There’s a Jewess in the courtyard! Overused word: nice

Police!”(Spiegelman 137). This 5 fits the stereotype that the

author is trying to create, 6 because she ‘squealed’ on them.
Luckily they found a barn to stay in, and no one heard the
old, senile woman. This further cements 7 the fact that most
Poles will sell out any Jews they see, therefore fitting their
stereotype. 5
Unclear antecedent
The author drew the Jews as mice, which makes sense 6
[create, ]
when you think about it. He did this because most of the
time the Jews are depicted as small, and meek. In the book,
there aren’t many examples of the Jews acting outside of 7
Missing verb
their stereotypes. The Jews often hid like mice, they 8 hid
in secret bunkers between walls, in basements, or in attics.
However, also in Auschwitz, they sometimes hid when
they could. For example, Vladek was afraid of being
chosen in a selection 9, so he hid. “Right away I ran inside
the toilets. And if 10 somebody looked, I’ll 11 tell I had a bad
stomach. What had I to lose?”(Spiegelman 67). This 12
shows that the Jews are very afraid 13 and will hide from 8
[mice, they → mice; they]
danger, like mice.
As previously mentioned the author uses animals to show
different people’s stereotypes. He does this in order to 14
make sure that his audience knows how the different ethnic
groups acted and interacted. There are many different 9
[ a selection]
social groups represented in many different ways. The 10
[And if → Moreover, if]
group that is the most blatantly represented by an animal is 11
[I'll → I will]
the Poles. They are depicted as greedy, and, for lack of a 12
Unclear antecedent
better term, “squealers”. 15 There are a few times in the 13
Weak adjective: afraid
book when people act against their stereotypes, but for the
most part 16 they stay within their stereotypes. It could be
argued 17 that more people act outside their stereotype than 14
[in order to → to]
stay in it. However, there are more instances of people
staying within their norms than not. Art Spiegelman drew
the characters in his book as animals because it shows their
stereotypical behaviour 18 very clearly.

15
[”. → .”]

16
[part,]
17
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Passive voice

18
[behaviour → behavior]

Works Cited
Spiegelman, Art. Maus: A Survivor's Tale. New York:
Pantheon Books, 1986. Print.
Spiegelman, Art. Maus II: And Here My 19 Troubles
Began. New York: Pantheon Books, 1991. Print.

19
Personal pronoun in formal writing